Jeff and I hired employee #5 this week - a full-time web developer. A huge step to say the least. Our first full-time hire since we purchased the business in April. We simply needed the capacity he provides, not to mention the rock-solid PHP skills and all kinds of knowledge about WHM, cPanel, SQL databases, phpMyAdmin, etc. We're really thrilled to have him here - his skill sets and demeanor are a perfect fit for our small team.

It is a frightening thing, hiring these days, given the economic news locally and nationally. Yet, we can't grow without the additional capacity ... and we want to grow. There's really no trade-off. To grow you must invest, whether it be in capital equipment, facilities, training, people, marketing, whatever. Downturns like the one we are currently in are opportunities for growth. You can seize market share from your competitors by releasing a new product or service. You can also seize market share by advertising when others have stopped or cut back. Downturns are good times to acquire a weaker competitor, too.

Businesses started during recessions have gone on to some pretty big successes. A blog by Darren Dahl on AOL Small Business (Top Companies Started During a Recession, 5/10/2010) provides some interesting historical perspective. GE (1890), IBM (1896), GM (1908), Disney (1923), Burger King (1953), Microsoft (1975), CNN (1980), and Apple (2001 - the year of Apple's rebirth with the launch of the iPod) all started during tough economies.

I told #5 when we hired him that there are some phenomenally wealthy people out there who had single-digit employee ID#'s at the right company. How much do you think employee #5 from Google is worth today? Is our little company ever going to be that big? Who knows? That's the great thing about this country ... it could be. With the right combination of ideas, guts, and luck, the sky is truly the limit. It just takes the confidence to make that first step. So, we hired #5 this week ...